Friday, April 15, 2016

Tomorrow Sucks

The anthology TOMORROW SUCKS (1994), edited by Greg Cox and T. K. F. Weisskopf, showcases science-fiction vampire tales. Some are vintage stories familiar to devoted fans; most have more recent publication dates. Weisskopf concludes the book with a short essay, "An Anthropological Approach to Vampirism." Disclosure: This volume includes "Vanishing Breed, by my husband, Leslie Roy Carter (first published in my CURSE OF THE UNDEAD, 1970); it's the earliest story I'm aware of to propose that Earth's vampires originated on a different planet, and it inspired my vampires-as-other-species series. If you're curious, you can find the titles of novels and stories in this fictional universe here:

The rest of the contents: "Pillar of Fire," by Ray Bradbury; a twentieth-century man rises to undead life in the distant future. "And Not Quite Human," by Joe L. Hensley, another older story; an alien invasion force conquers Earth, and the action takes place on a starship carrying Terran "specimens" who turn out to be far from ordinary. "The Man Who Loved the Vampire Lady," by Brian Stableford; in an alternate-history seventeenth-century Europe, the world is ruled by vampires whose condition arises from an infectious disease, which the protagonist studies in an attempt to find a weapon against the vampire overlords. "Born Again," by S. N. Dyer; another story in which vampirism is caused by a microorganism. "Kaeti's Nights," by Keith Roberts; a father narrates what happens when his supposedly dead daughter comes home on regular visits and sets him straight about the truth versus the myths of vampirism; "Pyotr's Story," by Spider Robinson; a "Callahan's Bar" episode about friendly vampire Pyotr, a member of another species, who filters blood rather than literally drinking it and incidentally prevents his donors from developing hangovers after heavy imbibing. "Fleas," by Dean Ing; vampires defined as parasites and subject to predation by creatures still higher on the food chain. "Leechcraft," by Susan Petrey; members of Petrey's vampire species, the Varkela, roam the Russian steppes and trade their healing and horse-trading gifts for blood, and in this story, a Varkela man time-travels from the nineteenth century into the present and falls in love with a modern woman. "Shambleau," by C. L. Moore, the oldest item in the book; interplanetary adventurer Northwest Smith falls victim to a shapechanging predator in the seductive guise of an exotic alien girl, although her true form is a Medusa-like "writhing scarlet horror." "The Stainless Steel Leech," by Roger Zelazny; in the far future, a vampiric "werebot" becomes friends with the last surviving traditional vampire.

1 comment:

After being in relationship with Wilson for seven years,he broke up with me, I did everything possible to bring him back but all was in vain, I wanted him back so much because of the love I have for him, I begged him with everything, I made promises but he refused. I explained my problem to someone online and she suggested that I should contact a spell caster that could help me cast a spell to bring him back but I am the type that don't believed in spell, I had no choice than to try it, I meant a spell caster called Dr Zuma zuk and I email him, and he told me there was no problem that everything will be okay before three days, that my ex will return to me before three days, he cast the spell and surprisingly in the second day, it was around 4pm. My ex called me, I was so surprised, I answered the call and all he said was that he was so sorry for everything that happened, that he wanted me to return to him, that he loves me so much. I was so happy and went to him, that was how we started living together happily again. Since then, I have made promise that anybody I know that have a relationship problem, I would be of help to such person by referring him or her to the only real and powerful spell caster who helped me with my own problem and who is different from all the fake ones out there. Anybody could need the help of the spell caster, his email: spiritualherbalisthealing@gmail.com or call him +2349055637784 you can email him if you need his assistance in your relationship or anything. CONTACT HIM NOW FOR SOLUTION TO ALL YOUR PROBLEMS'

Welcome to the VampChix blog. We read books with bite and all manner of creatures are welcome here, whether from this world or beyond our imagination. If it has wings, magic, fangs, claws, or powers that just can't be explained, chances are we want to read about it.

Our interests are varied so you never know what you might find lurking around the page, but we enjoy books, graphic novels, comics, movies, and television.

Meet the VampChix

Review Policy & Other Details

All books reviewed are either purchased by reviewer, borrowed from the library, or provided by publisher and/or author. VampChix reviewers are not compensated for reviews in any way. We run this blog because we love the genre (in all forms), and all reviews are our honest opinions. Every attempt will be made to review as quickly as possible, but we all have lives outside of the blog so that is not always possible.

If you are an author/publicist interested in reviews, guest appearances, or promotions, please email Anna with title, author and brief description of the book you would like to review/promote. Authors, please DO NOT attach a copy of your book to the review request.

You may only reprint a VampChix post with permission and with proper attribution.

Winners of contests will be announced in a blog post following the contest. Winner has two weeks to claim their prize, or it will be forfeited.